1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to voice recognition technology and is particularly concerned with portable, intelligent, interactive devices responsive to complex voice commands.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of conventional portable interactive voice recognition equipment is a voice recognition toy. For example, the voice recognition toy that was disclosed by the Japanese Laid Open Publication S62-253093 contains a plurality of pre-registered commands that are objects of recognition. The equipment compares the voice signals emitted by the children or others who are playing with the toy to pre-registered voice signals. If the two voice signals coincide, the equipment generates a pre-determined electrical signal corresponding to the voice command, and causes the toy to perform specific operations based on the electrical signal.
However, toys such as "stuffed dolls" that carry on conversations and perform operations based on the results of voice recognition using the aforementioned canned matching technique, however, are liable to recognize words and expressions that are different from those uttered by the speaker, leading to inaccurate or inappropriate responses. Such errors may frustrate or confuse the speaker, especially children, leading to disuse once the novelty has worn off.
Further, even when correctly recognizing these words and expressions, these toys are unable to react or respond in a manner appropriate for changing situations or environments. In most cases, their limited hardware and software capabilities only permit simple, one-step query and answer type operations. For example, a toy containing pre-registered expressions such as "good morning" and "good night", will simply mimic the speaker or perform some simple response when the speaker says "good morning". The toy will not query the speaker for further information or otherwise assess its surrounding environment.
Such limitations clash with emerging market trends that toys should perform increasingly sophisticated actions. If a child says "good morning" and the toy merely replies "good morning", the novelty wears off quickly. Therefore, voice recognition interaction technology for toys and similar devices should be enhanced and improved to handle more complex and intuitive dialogue, as well as improve recognition accuracy over the widely-implemented matching techniques discussed above.
One potential solution may be to incorporate into such devices continuous voice recognition/response technology that continuously recognizes voice and responsively performs appropriate and complex actions. This approach is quite successful in addressing several of the limitations presented by canned matching. However, proper implementation of conventional continuous voice techniques require copious amounts of memory, complicated signal manipulation circuitry and processing power currently beyond the means of most commercially available personal computers and digital assistants. Accordingly, continuous voice simply does not provide a practical recognition solution for the ultra-cost sensitive electronic toy, gaming or appliance markets.